Transforming (the) family home

By NYC standards, a 1400 square foot home is pretty palatial. Even so, fitting one adult and four children into such a space, especially one configured as a two bedroom, is a fairly impressive feat. It's all the more impressive when everyone has adequate personal storage, a desk, bed and a nook to call her or his own. Such is the case with the home of Kip Longinotti-Buitoni, who following a divorce, decided to move her and her four children from the burbs to a two bedroom condo in lower Manhattan.

Before she moved in, her architect, Tim Nanni of Construct Architecture, was assigned the task of providing satisfactory sleeping/bathing/working accommodations for everyone as well as creating a large, shared cooking/dining/gathering/entertainment space. Nanni retained the two bedroom configuration, but because he used so many transforming pieces of furniture--most of which by Italian manufacturer Clei--there were discrete spaces inside the larger spaces where everyone could duck out should they tire of one another's company. While the downsize could have been traumatic for the kids, Longinotti-Buitoni reported the transition went "seamlessly."